


Accidental Confession

by Kajune



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 09:30:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16658579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kajune/pseuds/Kajune
Summary: Archer says and does something he probably shouldn't.





	Accidental Confession

_THUD!_

A giant boar dropped dead onto the blood soaked grass loudly, narrowly missing its former prey, Archer, who sat momentarily confused by the sight.

Archer had been prepared to face off three enemies in this boar-infested jungle, but he did not expect a fourth one to knock him to the ground and attempt to devour him. It took him a moment to realize _why_ the hungry boar failed to kill him, and a moment later to discover there was a fifth boar coming.

This time prepared, Archer dashed over to the enemy and sliced at it with his projected sword. After several attacks, the giant boar fell, never once coming close to its intended prey.

“Wow, I didn’t notice that fella was there.”

Lancer remarked casually, as if the thought of nearly being attacked by surprise by wild animals wasn’t a big deal. Archer supposed Lancer grew up dealing with such incidents, so he was used to it.

Archer was aware that by killing the fifth boar, he had paid any debt he owed to Lancer.

“Thanks for the help, and now we’re even.”

A Gae Bolg to the heart was what killed the fourth boar, Archer recalled.

“Hahaha, no need to thank me, and I wasn’t planning on making you repay me, either.”

Archer wasn’t going to risk Lancer changing his mind later. Besides, Archer had developed an utter dislike for big boars after the fourth one nearly ate him alive. It appeared he and Diarmuid now had something in common.

“You’re sure?” Archer questioned.

Lancer rested his spear along his shoulders and beamed a toothy grin at Archer.

“Yep. All I ask is that you keep baking those delicious brownies you made yesterday.”

Ah. Archer had the sudden urge to test out a new recipe and was amazed with how many people actually liked it. He didn’t expect it to be good enough to stop Lancer from demanding repayment for heroic rescues.

Archer still believed he needed practicing to perfect those brownies, so he had no qualms about baking more.

“Fine,” Archer conceded.

He was ready to leave, half-expecting a sixth giant boar to show up, but Lancer’s response caught him off guard.

The toothy grin had, surprisingly, brightened in intensity. Archer didn’t think it was possible. It was probably justified given that Lancer was the son of a sun god, but Archer didn’t actually expect to meet someone who looked so dazzling when they smiled.

Lancer’s smiles were already bright, in accordance with how happy he was, but this time he looked absolutely ecstatic and in turn, almost too dazzling to behold.

It wasn’t just light that Archer found himself staring at, but beauty too.

Lancer would certainly look more dazzling (or beautiful) if he didn’t have a certain “stain” on his face.

Instinctively, Archer moved to rub off a blood splatter from Lancer’s cheek, startling them both. It took a lot of stuttering before Archer could formulate an explanation (read: excuse) for his unusually gentle gesture.

“I...err...thought the blood didn’t suit you.”

Which was a very odd thing to say to someone famously known for living up to the name “Hound of Culann.” Lancer also very rarely came back from a fight not happily drenched in blood.

It didn’t help that Archer was the only person so far to voice disapproval in seeing blood on Lancer.

Which was why Lancer didn’t buy the excuse.

“Really…?”

Archer had a feeling that any subsequent lie he said would basically be Archer digging his own grave.

He couldn’t bring himself to be honest, however.

“O-Of course! Blood doesn’t look good on you,” A beat. “at all!”

Lancer continued to grin knowingly at Archer, which drove Archer to keep making excuses.

“You need to stay clean, Lancer. It’s good for your health,” Another beat. “I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who’s worried about that.”

Archer glanced at the two dead boars nearby.

“These things could have diseases in their blood. You never know.”

Only Lancer noticed how Archer was beginning to sound a lot like a mother hen. Bless his poor soul if he didn’t already know that the rest of Chaldea saw him as a mother hen; a rare male version, but a mother hen nonetheless.

Today, Lancer got to see for himself why everyone thought that.

It was a delightful sight.

Too bad Archer was simply making up excuses for why he was so concerned about blood being on Lancer. Lancer wanted to know, more than anything right now, the real reason for Archer’s concern.

He had no choice but to cut Archer’s motherly rant.

“Emiya.”

It came as no surprise that the mere use of Archer’s surname immediately stopped Archer from talking. It was very rare for either of them to get out of the habit of referring to each other by their class, so the sudden change was always noticeable.

Archer, or Emiya, had no idea what to expect upon hearing Lancer use his name. He waited for the other man to say something, aware that anything he said himself at this point would be nonsensical at best and insulting at worst.

Lancer took a step closer before he spoke.

“Mind telling me the truth instead?”

It took several long beats for Archer to respond, the silence caused by him fumbling with his own thoughts. He was too embarrassed to admit his secret thoughts about Lancer, the ones that concerned how he saw the spearman as “dazzling”, “beautiful” and “desirable.”

He was alright with keeping his attraction a secret, to pretend he saw Lancer as a competent ally and nothing more.

Too bad he had no choice but to give a straight answer, or Lancer might retaliate in ways that could leave Archer feeling even more embarrassed. Archer had seen first-hand how merciless Lancer could behave towards people who were dishonest with him, who were _caught_ being dishonest with him, such as Medb, Robin Hood and even Gilgamesh.

Lancer made sure to remind these kinds of people that they were going to have secrets exposed, jokes spread about them and enemies directed towards them in large numbers if they failed to apologize for their dishonesty.

To be fair, these were people Lancer didn’t like, but Archer doubted he would be spared of such treatment even though he and Lancer got along fairly better than Lancer did with those three examples.

Therefore, in the midst of his fumbling, Archer tried to come up with a less obvious lie, or a statement that wasn’t entirely untrue but didn’t expose his true feelings to Lancer either.

He chose what to say without being certain if it was the right thing to say.

“Blood makes you look ugly, so I removed it.”

Archer assumed his answer would convince Lancer that he was only being helpful, but…

“So without it, you think I’m pretty?”

Ouch.

Archer’s whole face heated up and turned red. He didn’t anticipate Lance coming to that conclusion.

It hurt because it was true.

Archer’s reaction, sadly, was an answer in itself. Lancer realized instantly that yes, without the blood, Archer thought Lancer looked beautiful.

“Aww, I didn’t know Archer had a crush on me.”

He did, but it was typical of Archer to respond with lies.

“I do not!” Archer yelled. “Don’t...don’t think of such stupid ideas, I don’t...”

Lancer only cackled.

Archer glanced away from the spearman and down at the dead bodies by his feet. The sight reminded of something important.

“Anyway, I’m...I’m returning to Master. I’ve already cleared out some of the enemies so...this place should be safer...from now on.”

Archer’s voice became progressively more quiet as he continued saying, while the truth, a topic that had nothing to do with what he and Lancer were talking about seconds earlier. Fortunately, Lancer did not mind anymore. He was content to keep this little fact to himself and tease Archer personally about it for the next few days, or however long it took for Archer to crack.

Lancer was curious to see how far and deep Archer’s crush from him went.

As Archer stormed off with cheeks as red as his sleeves, Lancer followed with a joyous cackle. The next few days was going to be fun for sure.

 


End file.
